


Red Lightning

by Jayenn



Category: Megamind (2010)
Genre: Evil Queen Roxanne AU, F/M, One-Shot, Temptress, WHO IS AMAZING, borrowed with permission from set, inspired by a dress, parentheses, there are a lot of parenthetical remarks is what i'm saying, yet again the biggest plot arc in this is my love affair with parenthesis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-22 06:36:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13161306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jayenn/pseuds/Jayenn
Summary: "You, my dear, are a genius," Megamind says.Roxanne smiles up at him. "And are you impressed?""Very."





	Red Lightning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [setepenre_set](https://archiveofourown.org/users/setepenre_set/gifts).



> Firstly, huge, HUGE thanks to setepenre-set, who let me play around with their Temptress. Set is amazing and if you're reading this you should definitely read their stuff if you haven't already. Honestly. Literally ALL of their Megamind fanfiction is Literally The Best. so.  
> Secondly, thanks should be given to this one dress that I saw a gifset of on tumblr. It made me think "Ooh, that looks like something Temptress would wear. And hey, it looks like--OHMYGOD" and voila! This fic was born.
> 
> Thirdly, this is an AU of that AU where instead of Megamind being a hero, he's a villain, and things happened a little differently.

[Dress here ](http://citizen-of-the-fandom.tumblr.com/post/168792480082/voguedolce-ziad-nakad-haute-couture-f-w-17-18)

[Set's fic here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10524708)

* * *

 

The thing about being an incredibly handsome criminal genius is how easily  _bored_ one becomes, Megamind muses while brooding over a glass of champagne. He doesn't really like the stuff, especially how it's  _pronounced,_ but the bubbles are fun to watch. Particularly when he has nothing else to do but convince an entire room full of rich snobs that he is one of them.

That's all he has to do.

(Attempts to convince Roxanne that he could multitask were rebuffed with unwanted reminders of the English Breakfast Incident)

At first this was a little difficult, because this group of people is consumed with fitting in with everyone else and ripping apart people who fail at this. However, he spotted one rather heavy-set man setting up shop 

(ridiculous phrase, really, he's just standing there with no intention to move, and there are no shops anywhere nearby,  _why do they talk about shops--)_

_standing_ by the buffet table, and consuming large quantities of the horse durves-- (Orse dervish? -- something, why is all this fancy stuff so ridiculous) --and this man is rather effectively left alone.

Aha.

Megamind made his way over to the table -- far enough away from the other man who bears a disturbing resemblance to the Penguin -- and has stayed there for the last hour.

Hour and a half, actually.

How did he get roped into this again? 

Megamind thinks about that while trying to figure out how many brainbots it would take to cover the floor (both with the ballroom empty of the other guests and with them there, and also if the brainbots are hovering or laid end-to-end).

Lately, he and Roxanne have been talking about swapping roles and.

Well.

There was a whole conversation about it, some playful flirting, some witty banter, Roxanne fiendishly trying to distract him with her feminine wiles (she looks good in safety goggles, what can he say) and by the end of it he had told her that if she could impress  _him,_ she could impress  _anyone._

In hindsight, he should have known she would take that as a challenge and not a compliment. And it  _was_ a compliment, really! He's  _always_ been impressed by Temptress, even when they were rival villains after she showed up several years ago. (He just...didn't admit it then and ignored Minion every time he brought it up.) He knows the city is still in awe of Temptress, how could they  _not_ be?

But Roxanne had narrowed her eyes, firmed her chin, and informed him that she would be working with Minion to create her costume for the occasion.

(that's what she calls them, "costumes," as though he doesn't labor over every suit he meticulously builds to exact specifications and--)

At any rate, he is eating the little crackers with some kind of something on them and trying to avoid looking at the calamari dishes

_(w h y)_

and trying to remember how normal people pronounce champ ag-knee.

So, when a woman in vibrant red strides into the ballroom, his eyes are too glazed over with painful boredom to register it at first.

But he glimpses her color out of the corner of his eye and-- (oh Roxanne) (stop thinking about her Megamind) (wait) (ROXANNE?)

He whirls around on one Oxford-clad heel and  _stares._

Roxanne wears a small smirk that seems to deepen with every step and somehow makes her look even more breathtaking.

(Megamind could maybe  _possibly_ be a little biased)

Her dress is all floofy like the rest of the ballgowns at first glance, with a figure-hugging bodice and off-the-shoulder sleeves or are those _shoulder_ _-length gloves?_

But as she keeps moving, the fabric is heavy enough to flare out behind her like--

\--like a cape, really, like the first one she wore about a year after she arrived in Metrocity, the one that looked like  _his--_

But it's somehow also light enough to curl around her legs like silk. The dress is a deep red -- Temptress red -- and there is something woven into the fabric which catches the light, almost making it seem as though it is lit up from within, but the sparkles almost seem familiar, like...

no, not sparkles,  _sparks,_ like...

Megamind's eyes widen.

Roxanne's smirk widens into Temptress' sharp grin -- she takes another step -- and her skirt seems to catch fire. Sparks race through the thin, nearly-invisible wires in the skirt, up the bodice, through the fabric around her forearms and into the long red gloves.

(they look like red leather, if you need to write something down on Megamind's cause-of-death form)

She holds her hands at her sides, palms up and fingers splayed, enough to draw attention to the little red sparks still spitting from her gloves. The familiar low croon of Temptress washes over the room like a wave. "Oh, you started the party without me." She sounds a little hurt and her pheromone powers flare out.

Megamind notices only just now that before she arrived everyone -- particularly the men -- had given a little sigh like they missed someone, and he hadn't noticed the little spike that meant the guards at the door let her past.

Temptress continues, "I  _do_ wish I could have seen the room without everyone in the way." The party guests scramble to plaster themselves to the walls, and Megamind uses the confusion to sneak around to a corner.

_("How will I know when I should go and hide?" What's the signal?"_

_"Oh, you won't be able to miss it.")_

From there, he has the perfect vantage point to watch. It's always fascinating when Temptress commands a room: everyone knows they should be afraid, but they can only think about making her happy.

"Much better," Temptress smiles, and the guests relax a little and return her smile. She walks forward, dress swishing around her legs, sparks still racing across the bodice and the gloves. She stops in front of the hostess. "Lady Scott," Temptress greets. "I don't believe we've met. You know who I am, of course."

Lady Scott will, in all likelihood, later be embarrassed by how eager to please she sounds. "What do you want, Temptress?"

Metro Man, of course, will be absolutely useless here. Like the rest of the populace, Wayne is vulnerable to Roxanne's powers. The first time he had flown in all ready to save the day, and immediately bowed before her and helped her carry off several expensive paintings, the city had been in a full-out panic for a week. Nobody could stop her. The day they realized her powers didn't work on Megamind was...interesting.

Metro Man had tried "asking" for help. _("You know, buddy, you owe it to this city.")_ The Warden had tried making a deal with him the next time he let himself get arrested. _("Blue, you could work out your life sentences.")_ The Scotts had printed several "heartfelt" articles in their papers pleading with him for help.  _("Will the strange alien who is always beaten by Metro Man find within himself the strength to help others?")_

Oh.

He can see why she's targeting Lady Scott, now.

(He's always going to be surprised at how Roxanne defends him, always)

"I want," Temptress says, "you to film this." She nods to the cameraman, who obligingly begins filming. "People of Metrocity," she announces, and it takes Megamind a second to realize that she's pronouncing it the way _he_ does, and then he feels warm all over for some reason, "do you know what you need?"

The guests look at themselves, unsure of what answer she wants.

Temptress raises one perfectly sculpted brow. "A Queen."

"Long live the Queen!" everyone shouts.

"And of course, what does a Queen need?"

_A throne? An adoring public? A kingdom?_

"A King!"

_wait what_

Temptress shakes her head. "No, King is the wrong word." She raises one hand, palm out, and flicks her fingers. A bolt of lightning (not really, it's condensed and focused static electricity from the dress, and last month she had complained about her clothes shocking her every time she got up from the couch, she must have designed the generator without him noticing, how  _clever--)_ flashes from the glove and strikes--

his disguise watch.

_("And when I should come_ out  _of hiding?"_

_"Won't be able to miss it, sweetheart.")_

Megamind is grinning when his real face flickers over that of Pompous What's-His-Name and his suit changes. He hadn't designed this, Minion must have created the suit and programmed it into the watch without him knowing about it. It's like his tuxedo, but the tie is loose, the collar is popped, and the jacket is unbuttoned, revealing a vest with a red version of his lightning-bolt symbol.

Megamind steps into sight, and the crowd gasps.

Roxanne hums, deep in her throat. "Yes, I think Overlord should do." She watches him, eyes alight, as he goes to stand at her side.

_("Now it's important that, no matter what happens, it never looks like I control you."_

_"You do, though."_

_"You know what I mean.")_

And it's quite brilliant, really -- his symbol, which looks like lightning, and her dress, which also looks like lightning, except in her colors. It speaks of forethought and planning and teamwork.

"You, my dear, are a  _genius,"_ Megamind says.

She smiles at him. "And are you impressed?"

_"Very."_ His eyes speak of an intention to show her just how much later. He spins on one heel and faces the crowd.

Lady Scott is scowling at him. "I thought her powers didn't work on you."

"Oh, they don't," Megamind assures her. "But my Queen thought we should tell you that we work together now." He presses one finger to his lips as though to hide a smile but instead whispers, "Code: Now."

The brainbots which have been patiently waiting crash through the skylight amidst many screams. They fan out, an entourage worthy of royalty. Roxanne, of course, didn't know about this, and the smile of delight she turns on him makes the long hours of training the bots to do this absolutely worth it.

"I really must thank you for your hospitality," Megamind says with a bow. "I never would have been able to get in here on my own." The little bot he sent into the Scott family vault, once he had been in place by the table long enough to scan for it, returns, holding aloft three iridion crystals. "I'm sure Metro Man will appreciate these. We'll enjoy making something _just_ for him back at our Lair." It's vaguely threatening and also (see, he  _has_ been paying attention to how she guides people even without her powers) lets everyone know that the next Nefarious Plot will be from the minds of two geniuses.

_("And when I've made my entrance and you reveal yourself, then what?"_

_"This time,_ you  _won't be able to miss it.")_

Temptress raises her hand again, glove covered in red lightning, and this time the bolt of electricity hits the chandelier.

The lights go out.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so I accidentally gave myself a whole bunch of headcanons about this AU, like why Roxanne showed up in Metro City, and how she and Megamind first started fighting as rival villains, and how they both fell in love with each other, etc etc. I may or may not write some of these? Idk. I don't really want them to stay villains, but...ooh, just had another thought. Anyway. Also, I have no idea how the city has lasted this long against Temptress. Probably because she doesn't actually want to control the city? Who knows.
> 
> Thoughts?


End file.
